HI Folks -

Might anyone have a clue as to how one would go about opening the left rear door of my 535iM that won't unlock under any circumstances (and hasn't since I've owned it)? I suspect an actuator based upon the PO's story. The door card doesn't look like it's easy to pull intact with the door closed. I do have an entire spare door from the same year in the same colors inside and out with everything operational and a nice door card, so I can go barbaric on the thing and get it alll together nicely, but I'd honestly rather get it apart without destroying anything if possible.

Thanks!

Chris

bump for some suggestions!! I'm in the same boat but i havent attempted the repair yet.

bmw327, would you mind taking a few pics when you get in there to replace the actuator?

Thanks

Sure, I'll take a few photos...Looks like I might have to get medieval on the thing, though. I'll cross-post to roadfly first to see if anyone there has a clue as well.

Best,

Chris

im pretty sure you can open up the door's paneling from the inside of the car and open up the lock from there lol..im jsut guessing though and i have no idea how to actually do that

Having just done this myself I can tell you that it is a bit of a challenging experience. There are a couple of ways to do it, neither of which are elegant. The first one is as follows:

1. Remove the 3 screws that hold the door panel on. (Check the Bentley manual if you are unsure where) Remove the plastic door lock knob.

2. Open the window and carefully pry the the top of the panel away from the chrome trim. This is the tricky part as you run the risk of damaging your panel. Wedge open the back of the panel such that you can access the door lock which sits near the rear of the door.

It is likely seized (rusted). The actuator is connected to the lock by a plastic hook which you must break in order to free the lock to be manually moved. You will need a screw driver or something do do this. If you have never seen the inside of a door panel before you will probably want to take apart the other rear panel to see how everything goes together. Once you have opened the door you will have to completely remove the panel to replace the actuator (If you want a central locking rear door again)

The other solution (and the one I have done) is to remove the panel from the inside with the door closed....a challenge

1. Take out the base of the back seat
2. Undo the 3 screws in the trim (1 in handle, 1 behind door operating handle and 1 behind ashtray) & unscrew lock pin.
3. Pull the trim off at the top by the chrome trim, and then using a long strong thin flat bar (taped to minimize scratching), pry out as many clips as you can down each side of the door.
4. Using a large screwdriver, push the cable end out of the door operating handle.
6. Open the window, and leaning in, grab the handle in one hand and the armrest bit in the other, and pull the panel up and out. This will be problematic and you will have to jerk it up a few times but it will go eventually. Be patient, if you haven't managed to pop all the clips they will eventually give (probably with the clip retainer too)
6. With the panel loose, disconnect the window switch and take panel out of the car.
7. You can now take out the bad lock solenoid using a 6mm wrench, and unlock the door.

Early 89-90 E34's (and 32's) have expensive lock actuators available almost exclusively at the dealer. ($150! each) The only other place is KOperformance.com in Florida where they are slightly cheaper. later E34 actuators are available in a number of places.

Your other problem will be that you will likely break off a number of the plastic clip holders on the cardboard panel. Not to worry. Use contact cement and spring clamps overnight to put them back. In my case the bottom 2 inches of the cardboard panel crumbled into dust and I had to rebuild it with some fiberglass work. Good as new now.

Another hint is to check your window sliders (in the rail). The are white plastic parts that commonly break. Since you have the panel off you may as well ensure they are right. Panel clips and the sliders are cheap parts at the dealer. Check the Bentley for proper installation of the lock actuators so the double lock feature will work properly.

Hope this helps

Both of friggin rear doors are now frozen shut. Rule to the wise....DON'T BUY USED ACTUATORS unless you want to perform the procedure above multiple times.

I changed both rear actuators before with used ones, but they were not frozen like these appear to be now. Might as well just go the manual lock/unlock route now.

Oh, also, unless realoem and other parts places are not up-to-date it looks like these actuator are NLA.


<edit>...just checked KO (thanks for the lead)..they're $91.56 each...doable I guess. Not sure they're available, but maybe they are from KO. Manual unlocking sucks...

THANKS FOR THE WRITEUP....I gotta fix these soon.

Just finally got around to getting the rear doors open.

I had success pulling the back corner over and around the inner metal door frame. It cracked the panel a little, but I was able to get my hand down there with a Dremel and a Rotozip bit and cut through the white actuator arm. Then I was able to unlock the door.

Now to buy the actuators...